jackhammer damage and basement waterproofing?

[Eugene Chang]

My unfinished basement currently floods after heavy rainfall, even after paying a professional waterproofing contractor $4200. Since I have I life time guarantee, they said they may need to create a trench around the inside perimeter of the basement wall and drain the water into a pump.

The contractor said they would use a jackhammer on the edge where the walls and floor meet to create this trench.

Now, I have some questions about this ....

Would all this pounding cause damage to the house since the drilling is done so close to the foundation footing?

Also, later on, I'm thinkiing about covering my unfinished basement walls with drywall. Would moisture and mold develop between the basement wall and the drywall?

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Art Begun]

You really want a drainage system at the outside perimeter of the house to stop the water before it gets in. Also are your gutters working correctly? How about the slope of the grade near the house.

trench

[Doug]

[e-mail] (Eugene Chang) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

4 years ago I bought a house on which this operation had been performed. They installed the system about 2-3 years before I bought it. The house is about 50 years old. Long horizontal cracks (bad news) have developed and expanded on 2 of the walls where the drainage system was installed. The walls aren't in danger of falling (yet) but the cracks are disturbing. I don't know if the cracks are concidental or not. Like you said, a lot of jackhammering is done around the footers. I do know I'll never touch a house with a similar retrofitted drainage system and wouldn't have one installed. Live, learn and maybe sue someone.

If you have a choice, don't let them do this. As the other poster mentioned, an outside solution would be preferable. Most likely much more costly for someone, however.

Yes, it would probably mold if you don't take steps to prevent it. If you can't stop the water from the outside then most likely a lot of plastic film is going to be involved.

Doug